Sermon for June 19th (Father's Day-A message for men)

(Ladder 49 clip)

Men, are you ready to serve your God? I’d like to challenge the men of this congregation to “step-up” in their calling as Father’s and Husbands, sons and grandsons—to take up the challenge to be Christian men. We’ve shirked our responsibility to our society, our families, our wives and our church for too long and it’s time we became what God made us to be. It’s not sexist or patriarchial for men to follow Jesus Christ and he is calling us all to action just as much as that bell called those firemen to action in the movie. Consider this your wake-up call. This calling is just as important—except that sharing God’s love has the chance of saving a person not just from fire in their house, but from seeing their very lives going up in flames.

Every day, soldiers, policemen and firefighters are called upon and sent out to risk their lives for the sake of serving and saving people . . . are we, as Christians, so different? Women will say they love a man in uniform, but it’s what that uniform represents that truly inspires them. Is your walk with Christ inspiring to your wife? To the women in your life? Or is it embarrassing. If you want to live a life with purpose, follow Jesus to the sick and dying, to the homeless and hopeless. There is an old 1981 Marine Core commercial that focuses on honor, courage and commitment—that’s exactly what Jesus is calling us to as Christian men today. Jesus wants you, as a man, to be all that you can be for the sake of God’s glory.

I pray that God will speak to the ladies through these words as well, but I believe that God intends this message specifically to mobilize, inspire and challenge men to become more than what we have become. I do not mean any disrespect, but this church, and Christian churches as a whole in this world, have become kinda like women’s clubs where the vast majority of guys sit on the sidelines and help move tables every once in awhile. That’s NOT the picture we see in the Bible of how God uses men to spread His kingdom on this earth. And this isn’t just a result of women’s liberation or something like that—yes, women have stepped up to the plate (Hallelujah!) but that doesn’t mean men must step away. God created us to be partners, men and women together, in the home, in society and in the church.

Unfortunately, what is happening does not reflect God’s design for us. Here are some statistics taken from the website churchformen.com:

•The typical U.S. Congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male.
•On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches.
•This Sunday almost 25 percent of married, churchgoing women will worship without their husbands.
•Midweek activities often draw 70 to 80 percent female participants.
•Over 70 percent of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it during their teens and twenties. Many of these boys will never return.

And yet, church involvement is the most important predictor of marital stability and happiness. It’s also correlated with less depression, more self-esteem and greater family and marital happiness. Religious participation leads men to become more engaged husbands and fathers and teens with religious fathers are more likely to say they enjoy spending time with dad and that they admire him. More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only one out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church. We’ve lost the sense of honor, courage and commitment demanded from us as Christian men.

In the book and movie, the Lord of the Rings, Aragorn is the son of the king who is destined for the throne of Gondor but he has given up his destiny to travel the world as a ranger without a home. He is afraid to take up his calling and lead his people against the forces of darkness because he knows that within his heart there is sin and within his bloodlines there is a history of failure. His ancestor is the one who had fallen into temptation and allowed the forces of darkness to continue unchecked in the world. Finally, at the end of the trilogy, Aragorn fulfills his destiny. He takes the risk and accepts his rightful call to fight against evil once and for all.

Men, you are also the sons of a King—you are children of God—the king above all kings. You are also in the direct lineage of one who failed miserably, the first human being—Adam—who disobeyed God and allowed sin to creep into this world. You too have the seeds of sin lurking within your bloodlines. But you are also called, by God, to take the risk and step up to the challenge of a life as His son—to fulfill your destiny.

You are called today to repent—to admit that you have not lived up to your calling as a child of God. You have been sitting on the sidelines of life, letting others do the work you were called to do. You were called to be a partner with your wives and grandmothers and children. You were called to be a part of this body of Christ but you have let your fears get in the way. We are all called to lay our sins at the feet of Jesus, men and women . . . now hear this, By God’s authority, I declare unto you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Now, stand up, forgiven, and ready to take hold of your gear and follow your Lord into battle in this world with the honor, courage and commitment expected of you. Amen!




Part 2


Men, where is your focus? You work hard, right? You wake up early and work all day. If you are retired, you may finally be enjoying some of the fruits of your labor, but I’d still bet most of you still work as hard as your body allows. Why? Is it just because guys like to work? Well, that’s not exactly the reason I think. According to the book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, we find out that while women gain a sense of value from the quality of their relationships with others, men gain value from the their work and accomplishments. That means that we feel good about ourselves after a job is well done.

But if that is the case, how can we feel like we are growing in our faith as Christians? We are told that we CAN’T be saved by our works—that we are made right in God’s eyes by faith alone. But then how does a man grow in his walk with God? If it’s about a relationship and not work? Does God expect us, as men, to have long conversations with him in prayer each night before bed? Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, but do most of the men you know have long conversations with anybody on a regular basis? Does God expect men to read long theological books about growing spiritually even though a lot of men don’t even like reading?!

Look at what the apostle Peter does in today’s story about him in the book of Acts. Peter and John were going up to the temple to pray when they saw a man who was crippled from birth being carried. The man asked them for money. This is what Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up and the man became strong.” Did Peter do this? Was this Peter’s great work of faith? No. Peter says, “By faith in the name of Jesus, this man who m you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him.” Through faith in Jesus Christ, Peter had the privilege of doing work with God. God doesn’t call us away from work, but encourages us to work with him—trusting him as our leader. “For it is God at work in you to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Saint Paul would say later.

Simon Peter was a fisherman. The disciple Matthew was a tax collector. Over and over again in scripture, we hear that the people who followed Jesus were normal, ordinary people. God didn’t ask these men to stop working, grab a cup of chamomile tea, sit by the fire with a chicken soup for the Christian soul book and pour out their hearts to him in order to build a relationship. God challenged these men to follow him, become a part of his team and stay close to him so that He might work through them. The rulers and elders of the people saw this change in these men according to Acts, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” If you’ve ever wanted to be a real hero to your world, to yourself and to your family—become a part of God’s team. Don’t trust in your own ability to work hard, trust in God’s ability to do his work through you. To lead you into work that means something on an eternal scale.




Part 3


Guys, God is not just leading you into a church with cushy plush seats, fresh flowers on the altar and cute banners hanging from the rafters to sit for an hour a week. If that’s all you think the Christian life is about no wonder you’re bored. He’s calling you to fight—to fight battles with demons, disease and death in the name of Jesus Christ. And he’s not calling you to do this on your own, he knows that you CAN’T fight this battle by yourself.

I love football. I love playing it and I love following it. I used to play a lot of football video games when I was younger too, especially the Madden football series. One of the things I remember vividly is that, no matter how hard I tried to get an amazing running back and a great quarterback, if I shriked my responsibility to put a reasonable offensive line in front of them, some average defensive player on the other side would destroy my best play in an instant. Every part of a team is important or else it can’t achieve its goal.

You, as a Christian man, are a very important player in this church. If you’re just
sitting on the sidelines or tuned out throughout most of the week, the Devil will keep blitzing and stuffing every play we make to move God’s kingdom forward to the goal. You may not feel comfortable or knowledgable enough to do the work of the church. You may not understand how to talk about your faith in front of other people or that kind of thing. But God takes ordinary men like you and I and can do extraordinary things with us as long as we put our trust in him and follow his leadership. I was never a quarterback . . . I was just a lineman. But every time we scored a touchdown, I felt like I had accomplished something. I had done my job to the best of my ability. I had stepped up to the challenge.

God is calling all of you as Christian men to step up to a new challenge. And to accomplish God’s goals, you need to stop trusting in your own abilities, your own dreams and your own plans and start believing in God’s power to work through you. You ask being asked, today, to follow God out onto the battlefield of life, with your faith in Jesus for your shield and God’s Word as your sword. Your faith might be a little flabby, your biblical literacy might be a little rusty, but God promises to do his work through you if you are ready to follow him as your king. This week, take up the challenge. With your wife, with your children, with your co-workers and here at church. When you hear God calling you to fight on his behalf—follow the call. He is faithful and he will do it. Amen.